2011 BOLLES FAMILY REUNION – REGISTRATION

 

1. Friday - The reunion will start with the Board Meeting from 3:00 PM until 5:00 PM. Dinner will be on your own, we can use the shuttle from the hotel for a few local restaurants or use the hotel’s restaurant. At 7:00 PM we will have the annual meeting followed by an informal get together.

2. Saturday - As there are many things to see we will leave the hotel early Saturday morning at 7:30 AM for Gettysburg National Military Park. Arriving about 8:30 AM we will visit the visitor center to see the film, cyclorama and museum. Our final part of the visit will be a guided tour of the battlefield. Then a light box lunch while on to the Lancaster County Mennonite Center. There we will view two audio/visual stories of Amish and Mennonite history. Leaving the Mennonite Center we will take a 2 hour tour of local farms, churches ,markets, covered bridges, etc. showing the lives of the local people.

   The reason for the light box lunch is because after the tour our next stop about 5:30 PM will be the Plain and Fancy restaurant where we will have a family style, all you can eat, meal featuring farm-to-table Amish cuisine. By then we will be getting tired but one last stop will take us to Hershey’s Chocolate World where you will learn how chocolate is made and maybe buy some of the sweets to take home.

    

3. Sunday - We have another early start of 8:00 AM for center city Philadelphia, Independence National Historic Park. It is about a two hour trip. There are many historic buildings and sites to see in this Park. Independence Hall requires a free timed ticket to enter so that will be our first priority. After that we can split into smaller groups and visit the Liberty Bell, Congress Hall and other attractions that may have a more personal interest. All three of these require security screening. Lunch will be on your own with several local restaurants offering Philly cheese steaks and other lunch type sandwiches. It is suggested by AAA that a minimum time of 5 hours be utilized here, but we will check into it further.

   Other historic places to see at the Park are: Carpenter Hall, Declaration House, Bishop White House, American Philosophical society, Franklin Court, Free Quaker Meeting House, Todd House, Betsy Ross House ($3.00), Christ Church (donation) and National Constitution Center ($12.00). Note that the last three have a fee or donation.

   On our return from Philadelphia we will stop at Valley Forge National Historic Park. The visitor center will be open until 6:00 PM. Then we make a stop for supper at a Hoss’s restaurant where you can choose soup, salad and dessert bars or meat and/or fish entry and soup, salad and dessert bars. Then it is back to the hotel.

 

4. As you can tell by this busy itinerary there is much to see. If you wish to come early and/or stay late we will be glad to help you find other things to see and do. There are literally hundreds of things to do within 3 hours of driving from Harrisburg, other Revolutionary era sites, Civil War Battlefields in Virginia, NYC, Baltimore, and Washington, DC.

5. Hershey Park will be in full swing in August. Come early or stay after the Reunion if you wish to visit Hershey Park. As we stated earlier we can obtain discount tickets through Rose’s church. There is a deadline for paying for these tickets and they are "valid any public day during the regular 2011 season". We must have the ticket money by April 23, 2011. If you are interested you must send us the money made out to Rosanne Bolles, 291 Camp Strauss Road, Bethel, PA 19507 by April 23, 2011. The cost is as follows: Regular (ages 9 -54) – normal cost of $53.95 (discount cost $29.50); Junior (ages 3 -8) and Senior (ages 55 -69) – normal cost of $32.95 (discount cost $25.00); and Senior Plus – normal cost of $21.95 (discount cost $20.50). Please call us at 717-865-5006 or email us at wrbolles@comcast.net to verify that we have received your check. We will receive the tickets by May 26, 2011, and will have them available at the Reunion or earlier if you wish to come to PA before the Reunion.

BOLLES Family Reunion 2010

2010 Seattle Reunion Postponed …but 2011 is on.

After much discussion, the Board of Directors has decided to postpone the Bolles Family Reunion for first time in its history.  This conclusion was based on factors of the current economy, limited response in projecting attendance and the high cost to the Association for basic meeting expenses to name a few. The Board wishes to thank Connie Wellnitz for her time and efforts in scouting, and submitting plans for hosting this year. Because of her help, plans to host a reunion in the Northwest section of the country will be reconsidered in the near future. 

All is not lost, for the year 2011, mark your calendars and set your sights for southeast Pennsylvania! This will be the first time BFA will host a reunion in the cradle of our country and our hosts, Walter and Roseanne Bolles are ready. If you have a favorite, know of Bolles or allied families locations or just have a suggestion, please let us know. Much history can be found in that area and further details will be released before the end of this year.

BOLLES Family Reunion 2009

2009 Reunion was held on Long Island, New York on October 2, 3 &4^th at the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge, 2050 Express Drive South.

Colleen DeLise was our hostess. Highlights include visiting Sagamore Hill, the home of Pres. Theodore Roosevelt, in Oyster Bay.

Also proposed is a visit to the Vanderbilt Museum in Centerport.